Reflection of the Damned
by Demetri-The-Bloodhound
Summary: A glimpse of Neferet's past and how it motivates the present...


Set after Hidden, after the "Mirror Scene" and Neferet disappeared after she fell off the balcony with Aurox:

In the deep forest, in an old, dilapidated house, revenge was the last thing the former High Priestess had in mind, where she sat on the bedroom floor holding her right hand over her bleeding left wrist.

Neferet knew Zoey had no idea how much the Seer Stone mirror had an effect on her. Why would she? She didn't know anything about her. Not a thing. She shivered and exhaled a raspy breath.

Neferet glanced through tear-wet eyes at the razor blade from where it lay at her feet. It made her think of years ago, when she was just a child, at her first suicide attempt...

_"Everyone I've ever met or been told of," she thought to herself, "they all thought life is a beautiful thing. Even if they'd been on the edge of a rooftop, ready to jump, they've suddenly come to think of something of Life that makes it worth living at all." A new, warm tear ran down her face, "I, however, I just can't find beauty in life at all, nothing in it that makes it worth living. What I've had can't be called a life; it feels like I've been dead ever since I was born. So what point is there in living, when I've got nothing to live for? What kind of future is there for someone like me?" _

_The door, Emily Wheiler was leaning against started shaking as someone was pounding on it. "Emily," her father roared. "Emily, what in the hell are you doing in there!?"_

_Emily took a deep breath, then shouted back, "leave me alone, you f**king son of a b***h!"_

_Dead silence followed for a brief second. Emily's heart skipped a beat, instantly and instinctively experiencing fear for having cursed at her father, knowing what the consequences would be, but she didn't care, not this time. She was hopefully going to bleed to death so why should she be afraid of her father now?_

_"How _dare_ you talk to me like that?" Barrett shouted, "Open the door, Emily! I'm gonna beat the hell outta ya!" To Barrett's great surprise, he heard Emily turn around the key, unlocking the door. Barrett ripped it open, and stared into a pair of dark green eyes._

_Emily stared hard at him, stared furiously, still trying her best to hold back fear._

_Barrett finally noticed blood dripping from his daughter's clenched fist, then the razor blade on the blood stained floor. "What are you doing, you little sh*t?"_

_"I'm putting an end to all of this," Emily replied solemn. _

_"Oh, so your gonna kill yourself are you?" Barrett said with a laugh._

_"Yeah, and what do you care?" Emily yelled. "You want me dead anyway!"_

_"Well, go ahead then! Die!" Barrett yelled with outstretched arms. "You're so pathetic you couldn't even cut a bigger artery! The one on your wrist doesn't kill you, not the way you cut it, you coward! Slice your stomach open, stab your heart, or hey, how about this...use a goddamn gun!" He stopped himself there, noticing how dizzy Emily was getting, she had to lean against the sink before sitting down. Barrett looked at her, looked as she held her bleeding wrist, breathing heavily. Barrett sighed, "You stupid child," He said in a milder voice and took off his belt.  
_

_Emily thought he was going to hit her with it but instead he knelt down and wrapped it tight around her arm above her wrist. "Why...why are you helping me?"_

_Barrett paused and glanced at her. "I ain't a necrophile, I need you alive."_

_She stiffened when she realized what he meant. "I hate you."_

_"What it, brat! As soon as that wound stops bleeding, your in for it!" After he was done tending to his daughter, he stood up and watched her. Emily hesitated, and finally decided to ask what she always wanted to ask but never really got an answer too. "Father? Why do you do these things to me?"_

_Barrett actually looked surprised. "What? Beat you? You know the answer to that."_

_"No..." She stuttered. "The o-other things..."_

_"Dear girl," Barrett leaned towards her and grinned. "You want to know? I do it because I love you." _

Neferet hissed in pain as the tendrils of Darkness returned and began feeding on the blood, she so humbly supplied them with. And for the first time ever, since she summoned Darkness to earth, she shoved them away. They quivered but shrank back. Her wrist ached but instead of tending to it, she grabbed the razor blade. And the pain began over again.


End file.
